New Jersey Devils 2017 Season Preview: Draft Utopia

New Jersey Devils 2017 Season Preview

The New Jersey Devils have a franchise goalie in Cory Schneider. Schneider is under contract until 2023.

Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 8/23/2017.

New Jersey Devils Line 1 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Taylor Hall	Left Wing	72	6-foot-1-inches	201-pounds	20	33	53
Nico Hischier	Center	57	6-foot-0-inches	174-pounds	38	48	86
Kyle Palmieri	Right Wing	80	5-foot-11-inches	195-pounds	26	27	53

New Jersey Devils Line 2 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Adam Henrique	Left Wing	82	6-foot-0-inches	195-pounds	20	20	40
Travis Zajac	Center	80	6-foot-3-inches	205-pounds	14	31	45
Marcus Johansson	Right Wing	82	6-foot-1-inches	205-pounds	24	34	58

New Jersey Devils Line 3 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Miles Wood	Left Wing	60	6-foot-2-inches	195-pounds	8	9	17
Pavel Zacha	Center	75	6-foot-3-inches	185-pounds	8	16	24
Stefan Noesen	Right Wing	46	6-foot-1-inches	205-pounds	8	2	10

New Jersey Devils Line 4 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Blake Coleman	Left Wing	23	5-foot-11-inches	200-pounds	1	1	2
Brian Boyle	Center	75	6-foot-6-inches	245-pounds	13	12	25
Nick Lappin	Right Wing	43	6-foot-1-inches	174-pounds	4	3	7

New Jersey Devils Forwards Review The biggest strength of this offense has to be the amount of depth they have at center now with Nico Hischier anchoring the front line. Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmeri both had 53 points without Hischier. Imagine what that top line can do if they play all 82 games.

The second line is pretty potent too. Adam Henrique is a 40 point player back at left wing with Travis Zajac at center and Marcus Johansson at right wing in a Free Agency move from the Capitals. This line looks good.

New Jersey's third line will feature Pavel Zacha anchoring the third line at center. Brian Boyle will anchor the fourth line. This team is really deep at center this year, but the winger spots on the back 6 are up for grabs. If those guys can step up on the back-line than this will be a dangerous team moving forward.

New Jersey were 28th out of 30 teams in goals scored in the NHL last season. They also ranked 22nd out of teams on the power play. I'm guessing New Jersey improves quite a bit in both of those categories.

New Jersey Devils Defensive Lines

Player	Line	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Andy Greene	Line 1	66	5-foot-11-inches	190-pounds	4	9	13
Damon Severson	Line 1	80	6-foot-2-inches	205-pounds	3	28	31
John Moore	Line 2	57	6-foot-3-inches	210-pounds	12	10	22
Ben Lovejoy	Line 2	82	6-foot-1-inches	206-pounds	1	7	8
Michael Kalpa	Line 3	5	6-foot-1-inches	205-pounds	0	0	0
Mirco Mueller	Line 3	4	6-foot-3-inches	210-pounds	1	1	2

New Jersey Devils Defensemen Review New Jersey has team captain Andy Green and leading scorer on defense Damon Severson on the first line. The Ben Lovejoy and John Moore line looks decent as well. New Jersey has an awful third line of defense.

New Jersey finished 24th in goals allowed and 23rd in penalty killing. New Jersey has to improve on that if they have any chance of competing this season.

Draft Utopia Between The Pipes Goalie Tracker

Starting Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Cory Schneider	New Jersey Devils	59	20-27-11	2 Shutouts	.908	2.82 GAA

Backup Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Keith Kinkaid	New Jersey Devils	23	8-13-3	1 Shutout	.916	2.64 GAA

New Jersey Devils Goaltender Review Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid is a good goalie tandem. This team has two other good goalies on their AHL team as well.

New Jersey Devils Prospect Pool: Most of New Jersey's touted NHL prospects are already up in the NHL. Barrie Colts goalie MacKenzie Blackwood, the Devils second round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft is the top goalie available currently heading into his second AHL season as the starting goalie. You also got his backup Scott Wedgewood. John Quenville their 2014 first round pick is also in the AHL.

New Jersey Devils 2017-2018 Prediction

New Jersey has the forwards to contend. This team will go as far as their top two lines, centers on the back 6, and their goaltending takes them. I don't see a playoff team just yet even though I think they will end up in the 10-15 range when the 2018 NHL Draft rolls around. New Jersey is a lot better than most people realize even though I don't think this is a playoff team yet. It wouldn't shock me if they got there though because there are a lot more pieces in place than most realize.